Category Archives: Lifestyle

Traveling Overseas

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Traveling Overseas, originally published in the May 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine. Photos by Andrew Agcaoili.

There’s a new way to fly over water. A recent innovation in water sports that carries riders above the surface, a Fliteboard is a half-sized surfboard mounted atop a mini hydrofoil powered by an electric motor.

“The most exciting thing about this sport is the weightless feeling of flight above water,” says Danny “Rad” Farahirad, founder of Just Ride Los Angeles ( justridela.com), which offers Fliteboard lessons at Point Dume State Beach.

“No previous experience is required,” Farahirad says. “We’ve gotten people as young as 13 and as old as 77 flying during their first session. It’s much easier and safer than it looks.”

A private lesson includes use of a board, helmet, and a life vest.

805 Living Cover, May 2021, photo by Gary Moss.

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the May 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

 

New Nature to Nurture

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New Nature to Nurture, originally published in 805 Living Magazine, May 2021. Photo by @VisitVentura.

Getting back to nature in the 805 area recently got even easier with the establishment of Harmon Canyon (venturalandtrust.org), a new 2,100-plus-acre preserve owned by the
Ventura Land Trust.

“Harmon Canyon offers beautiful scenery, spectacular views, and a trail system for both hiking and biking found nowhere else,” says Ventura Land Trust executive director Derek Poultney. “And it’s available to the public for free in Ventura.”

State grants combined with a generous donation from the previous landowners funded the purchase of the Walker-Hearne Ranch for the preserve, which features hills and canyons, oak groves, streams, and vistas of the coastline and Channel Islands National Park.

“Community contributions allow the Ventura Land Trust to manage and provide public access to the property, restore wildlife habitat, and support our popular environmental education programs: Ventura Wild and Once Upon a Watershed,” says Poultney.

Dogs on leashes are also welcome.

805 Living Cover, May 2021, photo by Gary Moss.

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the May 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

 

What’s Cooking at the Ranch

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What's Cooking at the Ranch was originally published in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.Elizabeth Poett, proprietor of Rancho San Julian’s grass-fed beef operation in Lompoc, has a lifestyle cooking show on the new Magnolia Network. Ranch to Table (theranchtable.com), which launched in February, has been in the works for about
a year. Upcoming episodes, Poett says, will provide “a glimpse into what life is like on a cattle ranch and tons of delicious meals that focus on all that the Central Coast has to offer.”

Originally part of a Mexican land grant, the 14,000-acre ranch was established in 1837 and is featured prominently on the show along with its resident cows and chickens, gardens and orchards, Poett and her husband, Austin Campbell, and their two young sons.

Poett laughs when asked if Campbell, who also comes from a long line of local ranchers and farmers, was game to be on TV from the get-go. “I think Austin and I both knew that when we married each other we were going to need to be game for a lot,” says the seventh-generation rancher. “We were excited for the opportunity to share the importance of—as well as the beauty of—agriculture.”

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Biking Bliss

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Biking Bliss was originally published in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.Specializing in electric bicycles, Montecito’s new Mad Dogs & Englishmen (maddogsenglishmen.com) bike store offers a wide selection of high-end e-bike
brands for sale and rental.

Like the other locations in Mill Valley, Carmel-By-the-Sea, and Monterey, the recently opened outpost on Coast Village Road also carries helmets, some of which are disguised as pretty straw hats, and sporty sidecars—a fun way to turn an e-bike into a cargo bike, or carry kids and dogs (up to 100 pounds) as passengers.

Owner and CEO Jennifer Blevins has a passion for the e-bike. “It’s like a magic
carpet that lets you discover more, go to more places,” she says. “You can see more
and enjoy more on a bike. Perhaps ditch the car and take the kids to school by bike.
Or cycle down to the beach with your pup. The e-bike levels the playing field and
eliminates all obstacles—and makes biking fun again for many riders.”

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Cabin Chic

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Cabin Chic, originally published in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.Building on the success of Yarfa, the Joshua Tree rental-cabin company’s owners started Campover (campover.com), an online home goods business inspired by the cabins.

Now they have opened a brick-and-mortar store in Los Alamos to showcase their wares.

“We’re drawn to simple, well-designed,
and functional products,” says co-owner Lindsey Woitunski. “We also carry a selection of home goods inspired by the local vibe of Los Alamos.”

Among the offerings are an assortment of linens,
Hasami ceramics, locally made pottery and
cutting boards, and vintage finds.

 

 

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Room For Change

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Feng Shui Collective, originally published in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

If home has become a bit too familiar of late, this might be the year to take spring cleaning to a more transformative level—perhaps with the help of feng shui.

“Feng shui is not just about creating lovely, inviting spaces,” says Lauren Bragg (below, left), who cofounded the Santa Barbara-based Feng Shui Collective (fengshuicollective.com) with her mother, Pamela Abbott-Mouchou (above, right),
in October 2019.

“Just as importantly, it’s about change and being the architect of change in your life.”

The mother-daughter team offers services ranging from one-time visits to intensive consultations to a six week fundamentals course.

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Pillow Power: Montecito’s Indian Pink Pillows

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Pillow Power originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Pillow Power originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Few decorative updates are as easy to pull off as simply adding some stylish throw pillows to a space. Lending a pop of color and rich texture, they draw interest to sofas,
beds, windowseats, and chairs while providing extra comfort.

Montecito-based Indian Pink
Pillows (indianpinkpillows.com/pillows) introduce an exotic vibe.

The vibrant, one-of-a-kind pillows
and bolsters come in assorted sizes
and incorporate vintage textiles from
around the world.

“I am passionate about vintage
textiles,” says Tamara Cajuste, who
co-owns the business with her husband
JP. “The texture, the story, the wear,
the quality—it all just sings to me.”
Pillows “can make or break a
room,” Cajuste says. “I like to anchor
the sofa with larger neutral pillows,
then add a smaller pillow with pattern
or color. I also like to use color or
pattern on a side chair to make it
complete. But I don’t overdo it. There
needs to be a nice balance.”

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

Flipping the Switch to Electric: A Green Building Pioneer’s Take on Heat Pumps

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Dennis Allen talks about electric-powered homes on the CEC blog.

This story was originally published on cecsb.org on February 10, 2021.

“The nice thing about electric equipment is that it just keeps getting more refined, more efficient, quieter and better,” said current CEC Partnership Council member and past CEC Board President Dennis Allen. He’s certainly an authority on the subject. In addition to building two different state-of-the-art eco-conscious homes for his own family, the founder of green building specialist Allen Construction has been bringing his passion for energy conservation and sustainability to his work building quality, healthy homes for neighbors in Santa Barbara for almost 40 years.

As the costs of heat pumps have gone down, their efficiency has continued to improve. When he was building the LEED platinum certified Victoria Garden Mews project in downtown Santa Barbara in 2011 (where he and his wife Jenny currently reside), “we didn’t even consider a heat pump,” said Dennis. “At that point they were pretty expensive. Now they are much more reasonably priced and they’re much more efficient with what they call the coefficient of performance — it can be up to four times what a forced air gas/heating system would be. All of these things are just coming on big time.”

With all of the new residential projects in California now required to have solar power, Dennis predicts that the demand for heat pumps will continue to rise. “Heat pumps are safer and healthier because you’re not burning natural gas and having the combustion fumes from the gas system, which are usually in the house. (This is why you have to have carbon monoxide detectors in homes to sense whether there is too much carbon monoxide being put out by the natural gas burning appliances.) Those are both safety and health issues. And more recent research is finding that the health issues are more serious than we were all led to believe even five years ago.”

Higher upfront costs are the primary stumbling blocks when it comes to installing electric heating and cooling systems, but, Dennis explained, “if you take into account the operational side, then it has a payback period – and from then on you’re saving money. The upfront costs are still a little bit more expensive, but that’s coming down all the time and pretty soon it’s going to be a no brainer to go all-electric. The ordinances and the state regulations are nudging people in that direction, and there are some incentive programs and so forth that help people go there. Once they go there it keeps helping to drive the cost down and it helps people save money and be healthier. So even with the slightly higher costs today it’s still worth doing.”

This story was originally published on cecsb.org on February 10, 2021.

Flipping the Switch to Electric: CEC’s Board President is Pumped About Her Heat Pump

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Barbara Lindemann on going electric with a new heat pump for cec.org.

This story was originally published on cecsb.org on February 10, 2021.

The desire to cool down her house, rather than heat it, was what inspired CEC Board President Barbara Lindemann to investigate switching to a heat pump.

The air conditioner in her home in the Santa Barbara foothills was on its last legs and the furnace was more than 30 years old. After getting a bid on replacing the gas-powered furnace, Barbara pondered the purchase. “I began to think, well why am I putting in another gas furnace?” she laughed. “Given my commitment to getting off of fossil fuels this doesn’t make any sense at all.”

She asked for advice from a few knowledgeable friends, including green builder and past CEC Board President Dennis Allen and architect Dennis Thompson, who had done a remodel for the Lindemann’s a few years ago. Both of the experts agreed that heat pumps were a good alternative to another gas furnace. “Dennis Thompson pointed out that it’s not going to be long before you’re not allowed to put more gas into homes and new homes won’t be allowed to be built with gas,” said Barbara. “He said it’s really become the new thing.”

In the meantime, Barbara had also been researching getting backup batteries for her 18-year-old solar panel system. Living in a high fire zone with frequent power outages, and knowing that her solar power system would soon need to be replaced, Barbara realized that installing a heat pump would make even more economic sense when she replaced the solar with a system that included storage batteries.

Getting the heat pump “is a matter of looking to the future and taking care of our current needs at the same time,” Barbara said. While the initial upfront cost of the heat pump was slightly more than a new furnace might have been, Barbara said her gas bill has gone down and her electricity use is only up a little, “so we’re already saving money on the heat pump, even though it was more expensive to put in — and I haven’t had a chance to give it a full test with air conditioning yet.”

When summer comes around, Barbara is looking forward to her new heat pump being able to cool her home just as effectively as a standard air conditioner would, but without relying on fossil fuels to keep her family comfortable.

This story was originally published on cecsb.org on February 10, 2021.

Striving for Mōr

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Mor Doughnuts, originally appeared in 805 Living Magazine, March 2021.When Santa Barbara resident Tommy Chang was laid off from his job as a marketing project manager due to the pandemic, he began
experimenting with the traditional Korean rice cakes and mochi
that he had enjoyed as a child. He tweaked the recipes to develop
his own creations, Chang says, and his mom really liked his mochi
doughnuts. That was when he knew he was ready to go public.

“She’s a pretty picky eater,” Chang says, “so when she said,
‘Hey why don’t you sell these?’—well, for an Asian mom to say to
her oldest son, ‘you should make doughnuts’ is a big confidence
builder.”

Chang launched Mōr Doughnuts (mordoughnuts.com) last fall and now offers rotating weekly flavors like Matcha Berry Cheesecake, Black Sesame, and mango Tajín.
Chang hopes to open a storefront eventually, but for now, he sells his four-flavor boxed set for $12 online Friday through Saturday. Preorders can be placed starting each Thursday at noon for pickup at Jang’s Karate Center, his father’s business in downtown Santa Barbara.

Click here to see this story as it originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine.